Africa steps up fight against cybercrime.

• Position: CYBERCRIME

The African government is becoming more aggressive in its efforts to improve cybersecurity. South Africa recently adopted a national cybersecurity policy framework that includes measures to review, update, and align related substantive and procedural laws.

Communications Deputy Minister Stella Ndabeni discussed the framework in a speech at the ITWeb Security Summit 2012 in June. Security agencies will be responsible for applying the framework under the provisions of the country's Criminal Procedures Act.

According to SabinetLaw, Ndabeni said the solutions to the challenges facing the IT security industry include:

* Developing national best practices and guidelines

* Developing national partnership programs involving all stakeholders

* Establishing "trusted forums" for information sharing

* Developing a "cybersecurity curriculum"

* Raising cybersecurity awareness

* Encouraging the IT security industry to increase research and development of local security products

Meanwhile, Central Africa announced that it is routinely tracking Internet hackers daily. At the recent Internet Governance Forum in Central Africa, the director general of the National Agency for Information and Communication Technology said it had assigned a team to monitor cyberspace on a daily basis in search of hackers.

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The challenge, of course, is the Internet has no boundaries, and governments do. Other countries in the...